William Kamkwamba and his first windmill in Malawi.

I just finished reading an incredibly inspiring book called “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” It’s the story of a young man named William Kamkwamba, who helps supply electricity to his family’s home in Malawi by building a windmill.   Because of a shortage of money, he is forced to drop out of school.  His technical knowledge comes from books that he checks out of his local library.  He rummages for parts in the village dump and cobbles together his windmill in part from a bicycle dynamo.  The amount of adversity he must overcome in order to get the windmill working is incredibly humbling.

Right now our 6th grade technology class is working on developing their own alternative energy devices as a collaborative project with their 6th grade goLEAD class.  We are currently communicating with global partners and learning the 3-D design tool Sketchup, which we will use to develop 3-D printed prototypes.

This book reminded me how much you can do with so little.  It made me think about the true spirit of what we call “maker” education: student-directed, problem-oriented, and hands-on.  I encourage you to watch William Kamkwamba’s TED Talk or check out the children’s version of his book.